. Australian Garden and Field. Noveinbor. 1913 TH iO (JARDEN AND FIELD. 2?;? 0«tricK Parmii\£; ii\ SotstK AfricA. â Origin of Ostriili Kanninfr. Ostrich farininsf was bejiun hv the catchiiifj of wilds birds some time between the years 1S57-60. As far as I can j^ather the two men who are entitled to be calhd the fathers of the ostrich iiidustrv are Messrs. Van de Wcsthnv/en and Gert Olivier. Thev causjht many wild birds which were then 'running on the flats, domesticated them, and bred from them. The feathers of these wild birds and their progeny were in great de- mand, and from £20 to £?o
. Australian Garden and Field. Noveinbor. 1913 TH iO (JARDEN AND FIELD. 2?;? 0«tricK Parmii\£; ii\ SotstK AfricA. â Origin of Ostriili Kanninfr. Ostrich farininsf was bejiun hv the catchiiifj of wilds birds some time between the years 1S57-60. As far as I can j^ather the two men who are entitled to be calhd the fathers of the ostrich iiidustrv are Messrs. Van de Wcsthnv/en and Gert Olivier. Thev causjht many wild birds which were then 'running on the flats, domesticated them, and bred from them. The feathers of these wild birds and their progeny were in great de- mand, and from £20 to £?o was paid for the full plumage of a single bird. T \yell remember on the market here an uncle of mine getting £20 apiece for the plumes of twentv-two birds. Nowadays, for far finer feathers, £6 is a fair average price. Some twenty-five vears ago (tcS86-88) there was a bad slump in -the prioe of feathers, which then realized onlv from £2 to C}, per plucking. At that time there seemed to be no demand for feathers. The c'redit of first introducing lu- cerne to Oudtthoorn is due to a former magistrate, Mr. Scholtz. H'e sowed a small patch in drills in his frarden. A little later mv uncle, Richard Gavin, arrived from Ireland. He noticed this lesrumin- ous plant and thoun-ht it very like the clover of his old home. Ac- cording-lv he sat down and wrote to Phillip Bros., seed merchants, at Capetown, and asked them to procure some seed for him. This he sowed broadcast on a piece of land which is now a Pa'rt 'of Hin laid down to lucerne, un- til vou now seie , the large area imder this crop in this district alone. You \vill not be surprised to learn that we it a truly wonderful plant. We can keep six birds to the moreen fa morgen is approximately 2 acres) on irrigated lucerne land, and we can safely reckon on an average price of £8 to £19 for the plumaee 'of good birds. The annual value of the output of feathers from O'udt- shoorn is now close on a millio
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